Something Different
by Hellequin01
Summary: When he died, Ichigo had expected something… different.  Drabble-y IchiRuki


_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach._

This is kind of a follow-up to _Pendulum_ but it can be read as a stand alone.

_Something Different_

___When you say it's gonna happen now, _  
_When exactly do you mean? _  
_See I've already waited too long_

___*The Smiths_

When he died, Ichigo had expected something… different.

Nothing grand, really, no trumpets and choirs or anything. Even though he _had_ kicked an awful lot of ass a few decades ago for Soul Society.

No. He hadn't really expected anything big from _those_ guys.

Rukia, however, was a different matter altogether.

No, he hadn't expected her to jump into his arms and let herself be dragged away into the fucking sunset or any shit like that. Hell, he hadn't expected her to even kiss him. Even though he had hoped for that a bit.

Only now did he notice then how silly he had been. He hadn't expected any grand gestures or anything of the sort, but after waiting for fifty years to be with her, he had thought that that would actually happen. You know, be with her. As if everything would magically fall into place and they would simply be together.

However, when he finally got to Soul Society, young and handsome and all that jazz, Rukia had smiled and continued with her life as if nothing had changed at all. As if fifty years hadn't passed since she had last seen him. At his wedding, might he add.

So now they had tea. He trained to be the next 5th division captain. He went out for drinks with Renji and Ikkaku. She kept herself busy with all the responsibility that being the 13th division vice-captain entailed. Ichigo waited. They had some more tea.

Everything felt normal, but not. Not really. It wasn't normal for them and that was what really got to him. There was this formality that hadn't been there before, they talked about amenities, family, friends, the fucking weather. And tea? Really? Where the fuck had that come from?

Ichigo had a feeling someone was laughing at his expense.

He had waited fifty years, for God's sake! That had to account for something, right?

At least he was more patient now. Old age tended to do that to people. Right?

Yeah, right. Until it started to rain, it was just too much. The next thing he knew, Ichigo was barging in her quarters in the 13th division demanding loudly, "You didn't miss me at all, did you?"

Rukia, who was calmly sipping on her tea, raised one single eyebrow at him. How old was she now? Two hundred? Hell, since when had she become so goddamn composed? "What do you mean?"

"It's been fifty years, Rukia!"

She was unabashed. "So?"

He couldn't contain his disbelief. "So that's a fucking long time!"

There was a sudden sparkle in her eyes. "Oh."

"Oh? Oh? That's all you have to say?"

"Well, what do you what me to say, Ichigo?" Her voice was somewhat louder now, her eyes narrowed slightly. "You never made any promises to me," Ichigo thought that sounded an awful lot like an accusation.

"I didn't think I had to!" he defended himself.

Rukia's eyes narrowed even more, her tone was deadly. "Seriously? Ichigo, I watched you getting married to somebody else."

Not for the first time in his life (and certainly not the last), Ichigo was turned from the accuser to the accused by Rukia. "Oh."

"Oh indeed," Rukia got up and took three large steps until she was standing directly in front of him. "So what did you want me to say?" She stabbed his chest with her finger. "Huh, Ichigo?" She took two steps forward and he took one back. "That even after watching you getting married, I waited? That even though you never confessed any feelings to me, I cultivated them for you? That fifty years are nothing to me, and there's no way it could ever change the way I feel about you? That fifty years are nothing compared to how long I was willing to wait for you? That fifty years are nothing compared to forever?" She was now breathing hard and poking his chest over and over again. "So there. I've said it." And with that she stormed off to God knows where.


End file.
